OP FOCUS- LITHIUM STAMPEDE_proof 19/07/2016 15:31 Page 2
PROJECT FOCUS
Power on site at Mt Cattlin is provided by a
dedicated diesel generator supported by stateof-the-art solar tracking technology. There are
14 giant solar trackers and two wind turbines in
operation, which together generate 226 MWh/y
of renewable energy. Mt Cattlin was the first
mine site in Australia to have real-time solar
tracking panels as part of its power generating
requirements. The solar tracking feature means
the solar panels are able to follow the sun in all
directions to maximise the po wer generated
and provide 15% more power than a single axis
system. The wind and solar hybrid system
supplements power from Galaxy’s 5 MW diesel
generator, which accounts for, on average
about a sixth of the mine site’s daily power.
This system also promotes savings in CO2
emissions amounting to 200 t every year
either the waste dump or to mined out areas of
the pit(s) as back-fill. There is a possibility that
this material could be sold as a byproduct. The
HMS pre-screen undersize (-0.5mm) is treated
by gravity suspension (spiral classifiers and wet
tables) to recover tantalite and residual
spodumene). Tantalite circuit tailings and other
plant spillage streams are directed to a
thickener for process water recovery. Thickener
underflow is pumped to a tailings dam
approximately 500 m from the plant.
More advanced Mt Marion
The Mt Marion lithium project is about 40 km
southwest of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and
is jointly owned by Neometals (13.8%), Mineral
Resources Ltd (MRL, 43.1%) and one of China's
largest lithium producers Jiangxi Ganfeng
Lithium Co (43.1%).
Construction commenced in the December
quarter of last year and commissioning is
scheduled for mid-2016. Mineral Resources is
funding and operates the project from mine to
port. The mine has a current JORC-compliant
resource of 23.24 Mt @ 1.39% Li2O and 1.43%
Fe2O3, at a lithological cut‐off grade of 0% Li2O
in six deposits all open along strike and at
depth. The ore is fresh from surface and visually
distinguishable (white).
A new exploration drilling program is
currently underway by the project partners to
expand the resource at Mt Marion. Drilling is
continuing and a revised resource statement is
Mt Marion project layout
12 International Mining | AUGUST 2016
due to be published in mid 2016. The
early results of the program show
significant new intercepts.
In September 2015, an agreement
was executed between Neometals,
Mineral Resources and Jiangxi
Ganfeng Lithium which resulted in
Ganfeng taking a stake in the Mt
Marion mine and also agreeing to a
life-of-mine offtake agreement.
MRL, through its wholly owned
subsidiary Process Minerals International, is
developing and constructing the complete
logistics chain from mining, crushing, beneficiation,
mine to port transport and port operations to
enable the production of Li2O concentrate.
Demonstrating MRL’s innovative cost cutting
and environmental credentials, LNG power
generation facilities are being developed to
meet the remote demand for power on MRL’s
crushing, processing and commodity sites and
to fuel the transport fleet. The first LNG power
generation facility is expected to be installed to
power the Mt Marion lithium project.
MRL is building a modular processing plant
and installing other ancillary equipment, with a
capacity to produce 33,000 t of 4 to 6%+ Li2O
concentrate a month.
The mine is expected to produce 400,000 t/y
of Li2O at 4-6% chemical grade spodumene
concentrate. The processing plant will include a
modular beneficiation and flotation circuit to
increase the production in future based on
customer requirements.
At the end of May it was announced that
“pursuant to initial offtake arrangements
between Ganfeng Lithium and the project
vehicle, Reed Industrial Minerals (RIM), Ganfeng
agreed to take-or-pay 100% of the 6% Li2O,
chemical grade spodumene concentrate
produced from Mt Marion. Following
metallurgical test work that identified an
additional spodumene product could be
generated through the addition of a flotation
circuit to the current beneficiation plant,
Ganfeng agreed to expand the scope of the
offtake arrangement to take-or-pay an
additional 80,000 t/y of spodumene concentrate
of between 4% and 6% Li2O content.”
MRL and Neometals now advise that Ganfeng
“has agreed to further expand the scope of the
offtake arrangements from 80,000 t to 200,000
t/y of spodumene concentrate of between 4%
and 6% Li2O content, generated by additional
beneficiation at agreed discounts to the market
prices for the 6% Li2O product.”
Ganfeng Lithium is indeed a major player.
Another of its strategic partnerships is with
International Lithium at the Mariana lithium
brine project in Salta, Argentina.
And Pilgangoora
Altura Mining’s Pilgangoora is one of the most
advanced hard rock lithium projects in the
world. A recent report on Pilgangoora project by
Tim McCormack, Analyst, Canaccord Genuity
(Australia) states: “The Pilbara region in
Western Australia has seen a bona fide lithium
stampede in the past 12 months, with 20+
companies now at various stages of exploration
and development in the area. The most
advanced of these is AJM’s Pilgangoora project,
which has held tenure in the region since 2001.
AJM has defined resources and reserves adequate
to underpin a DFS. We expect the company to
make a development decision in the 2H 2016.
“With binding off-take agreements in place,
optionality around production scale and
exploration upside potential, we see a bright
future for AJM.
“The current reserve at Pilgangoora (18.4 Mt
at 1.07% Li2O) supports an initial 14-year mine
life, assuming a 1.4 Mt/y processing rate as
outlined in the April 2016 feasibility study.
Comparatively lower reserve grades are offset
by favourable orebody geometry, with a low strip
ratio (~2.7:1 LOM) a key driver in the project's
economics. While the envisaged production